1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to vehicle trip data recording devices which use uniform pulses electronically generated, from a drive train, to record distances traveled in a motor vehicle. Specifically, the present invention relates to a device that can record the date, start time, distance travelled, and the stop time of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
Many operators use motor vehicles in situations in which it is necessary to monitor and record time and distances traveled. These people are required to distinguish between personal and business use of a motor vehicle in order to pro-rate those expenses which can be used as an income tax deduction. Tracking distances traveled at all times for the complete year is necessary to determine the proper amount of motor vehicle usage which can be written off against federal income taxes.
In another situation it is desirable to keep accurate records of distances traveled in a motor vehicle when the operator reclaims expenses from a client or employer. Currently the vehicle operator is responsible, in most cases, for logging of vehicle activity in order to be reimbursed for vehicle expenses. The manual recording of log information is time consuming and tedious. A different example is the situation in which a motor vehicle, is operated by an employee, and the employer wishes to monitor time and distances traveled in order to determine if unauthorized private use of the vehicle has occurred.
At the present time this motor vehicle usage assessment is more often than not made at the end of the year. The assessment is only a rough guess because of a lack of documentation or a low cost tracking system to collect the vehicle usage information. Great attention to detail on a daily basis is required to record the data necessary to make the proper assessment of vehicle usage. Obviously therefore considerable error in the tax deduction calculation can occur one way or the other because of the wildly inaccurate rough guess technique. Manual recording of distances traveled by a given motor vehicle is a time consuming process and is subject to human error.
Devices of related art, which are intended to assist in collecting motor vehicle usage data, all do more than just collect time/distance travelled. Related art devices have an array of different types of operator interfaces including keypads, buttons, switches and displays to assist the user with categorizing or manipulating the data collected from the time/distance trip recording device. Other devices of related art require the user to categorize the data or information to be collected at the start of each trip. Some devices of related art require that information, such as present odometer reading at the start of a trip or when fuel is added to the vehicle, be entered by the operator when the event occurs.